Spec me a gaming laptop with emphasis on silence and weight
- Thread starter n1ghtwish
- Start date
Yeh i got the Arctic compound, why anyone wouldn't at only £9 extra is crazy. I got the AC 7625 wireless at it was the most compatible with all the routers i'll be encountering across Europe. I got the full year dead pixel guarantee and the Silver warranty package.
ihavenoideawhatiamdoing
Rising Star
You can get the 15" version with a gtx 970m for around £1,150
Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE METAL GEAR SOLID game with select GTX 9 Series GPUs! -Subject to T&Cs
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB SAMSUNG 650 SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1525 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED, 1 e-SATA COMBINED)
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
DEFIANCE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1
Price: £1,170.00 including VAT and delivery.
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/defiance-15/qY5seM3Aq5/
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You can get 980M for a bit more, bigger SSD (no spinning disk though) - £1243. This has dead pixel thing on too but is otherwise very similar to yours.
I think going to 980M is a good idea, it's less than £100 more than the 970M version and should future proof better. 980M does come with a slightly thicker chassis though.
URL: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/defiance-15/0tBjGbGUzd/
I think going to 980M is a good idea, it's less than £100 more than the 970M version and should future proof better. 980M does come with a slightly thicker chassis though.
URL: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/defiance-15/0tBjGbGUzd/
Damn i'm jealous. Certainly let me know how the screen is initially! I've hit a slight road block in my plans. Ordered that spec on Monday, figured i could save money by getting the review spec so had to cancel the order and finance option. Went to order the review one today and my previously accepted finance got declined so waiting to find out what's going on there.
I'm at work at the moment will need to re-OS and put some games etc onto it, but initial impressions in Windows are that the screen is very good, not seeing any obvious issues in terms of Backlight Bleed (so far), the matte finish is nice, everything is nice and clear 
Gaming is another question, but i'm sure it will be fine I hope
I put mine on Card instead of Finance, but had enough to cover costs in my bank, I can see the appeal of finance otherwise.
Gaming is another question, but i'm sure it will be fine I hope
I put mine on Card instead of Finance, but had enough to cover costs in my bank, I can see the appeal of finance otherwise.
Damn not looking good for me. They declined the finance just a few days after originally accepting it, have to wait 10 working days to appeal it. All because PCS couldn't amend the existing order and have me pay the additional money on top. Annoying! Going to be even more jealous once your feedback on it comes in.
So, update!
This is my setup. Larger 27" 2560 * 1440 screen on the left (Samsung PLS display). Connected to my main PC (i7 4770K, 780 Ti, 16GB RAM).
Apologies for light condition, overhead light is one of those awful fluorescent lights in this room.
This is a closer image of the laptop itself.
For the most part I am very impressed with the size/weight and the design. The only downside for me so far is that the back of the screen near the bottom is flimsy and has some flex. But I knew about this previously from reviews.
I have no regrets for 1080p at this size, more res would be totally overkill.
The laptop when gaming is not too noisy. The fans spin up audibly but not annoyingly loud. The only part of the chassis which seems to get warm is the keyboard surprisingly. The keys are warm to the touch but the rest of the chassis is room temp where you rest your hands etc.
The hot air vents out at the back left (to the side), and back right (backwards). One must be for CPU and one for GPU.
The screen looks great in Windows, very sharp and detailed. The matte finish is nice, if a little muted compared to the vibrancy of a glossy display, at least you don't suffer the horrid glare of a badly lit room.
The thing that may cause me to send this back though is the backlight bleed. I really notice it on any screen I have which has it. This is no exception. In normal browsing it's not that noticeable, but throw something on with a dark background and I can tell it's there. For this kind of money I am not sure I can live with it.
This is with a totally darkened room, with 100% screen brightness. The camera "exacerbates" it - but I don't need a camera to spot it if the screen is displaying a film with black bars top/bottom, or a game with darker imagery.
Shame we're in 2015 and still unable to make screens without backlight bleed issues, but there we go I guess. If I do return it I probably won't rush out to replace it, I would instead carry on with just my desktop and may seek a very literal replacement of desktop to laptop when that starts to feel dated. This laptop is about 90% as powerful on raw GPU as my desktop is, so next round of GPU mobile cards, Skylake processors etc could see some very interesting things!
This is my setup. Larger 27" 2560 * 1440 screen on the left (Samsung PLS display). Connected to my main PC (i7 4770K, 780 Ti, 16GB RAM).
Apologies for light condition, overhead light is one of those awful fluorescent lights in this room.
This is a closer image of the laptop itself.
For the most part I am very impressed with the size/weight and the design. The only downside for me so far is that the back of the screen near the bottom is flimsy and has some flex. But I knew about this previously from reviews.
I have no regrets for 1080p at this size, more res would be totally overkill.
The laptop when gaming is not too noisy. The fans spin up audibly but not annoyingly loud. The only part of the chassis which seems to get warm is the keyboard surprisingly. The keys are warm to the touch but the rest of the chassis is room temp where you rest your hands etc.
The hot air vents out at the back left (to the side), and back right (backwards). One must be for CPU and one for GPU.
The screen looks great in Windows, very sharp and detailed. The matte finish is nice, if a little muted compared to the vibrancy of a glossy display, at least you don't suffer the horrid glare of a badly lit room.
The thing that may cause me to send this back though is the backlight bleed. I really notice it on any screen I have which has it. This is no exception. In normal browsing it's not that noticeable, but throw something on with a dark background and I can tell it's there. For this kind of money I am not sure I can live with it.
This is with a totally darkened room, with 100% screen brightness. The camera "exacerbates" it - but I don't need a camera to spot it if the screen is displaying a film with black bars top/bottom, or a game with darker imagery.
Shame we're in 2015 and still unable to make screens without backlight bleed issues, but there we go I guess. If I do return it I probably won't rush out to replace it, I would instead carry on with just my desktop and may seek a very literal replacement of desktop to laptop when that starts to feel dated. This laptop is about 90% as powerful on raw GPU as my desktop is, so next round of GPU mobile cards, Skylake processors etc could see some very interesting things!
Damn, that's some pretty substantial bleeding going on there. It must be poor assembly that causes it? hopefully if you do send it back they can sort it out but it's a worry these basic and frequent issues aren't caught during the testing phase. I'm sure they're busy but catching this sort of thing in the first place will greatly reduce the need for a return. I'd like to know how it handles games and the subsequent heat though. IF i can sort this finance mess out i'd still like to get my 17" but with all the recent issues everyone has been having with their orders i'm starting to shop around again at other companies.
Yeah, couple of I guess points from me on the whole thing:
1. I think that they were having issues with Skylake and those Azure systems, people are most vocal when they are having problems. People without problems would rarely take the time to post about not having problems. Beyond the screen bleed I have no problems to report, everything else seems to be in order.
2. Backlight bleed is usually caused by uneven stress on the screen surround, the top left corner is perfect, top right isn't bad but bottom left and bottom right not so good as you can see! People have been able to fix or lower it by loosening screws on their screens, but I am not willing to void warranty or even mess around with that - also I reckon Clevo ship them with these screens rather than assembly on PCS's part, so assembly at the original manufacturer causes the issues.
3. I did post about heat/noise, did you see? The noise isn't too bad at all, it's definitely audible fan noises but not stupid loud. For the heat the system seemed to handle it fairly well also, venting the warm air out of the case to the back left (horizontally) and back right (vertically).
4. As an alternative, at 17" I would look at the ROG G751 as well, you won't get as much hardware for your money, but from what I read they run really cool/quiet compared to most laptops with the same kind of hardware.
1. I think that they were having issues with Skylake and those Azure systems, people are most vocal when they are having problems. People without problems would rarely take the time to post about not having problems. Beyond the screen bleed I have no problems to report, everything else seems to be in order.
2. Backlight bleed is usually caused by uneven stress on the screen surround, the top left corner is perfect, top right isn't bad but bottom left and bottom right not so good as you can see! People have been able to fix or lower it by loosening screws on their screens, but I am not willing to void warranty or even mess around with that
- also I reckon Clevo ship them with these screens rather than assembly on PCS's part, so assembly at the original manufacturer causes the issues.3. I did post about heat/noise, did you see? The noise isn't too bad at all, it's definitely audible fan noises but not stupid loud. For the heat the system seemed to handle it fairly well also, venting the warm air out of the case to the back left (horizontally) and back right (vertically).
4. As an alternative, at 17" I would look at the ROG G751 as well, you won't get as much hardware for your money, but from what I read they run really cool/quiet compared to most laptops with the same kind of hardware.
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Yeh certainly it's rare to get positive feedback on anything, people are too busy enjoying their products i guess. It'd be interesting to see just how many laptops get sold vs how many issues arise. Looking at the forums you'd think everything runs into an issue but it's likely a rarity. This whole finance thing is an absolute pain for me, it even looks like my credit score has gone down as a result so i have to wait til Monday to find out if the finance actually got cancelled properly.
Have you had a chance to chuck any hefty games at the thing yet?
Have you had a chance to chuck any hefty games at the thing yet?